At some schools, football is a major part of the college experience and last weekend West Virginia University defeated Texas 48-45. It has become part of local culture to start small fires on the street in West Virginia in celebration of victories... however police and school officials have long been trying to stop such acts and change school culture... thus far they have not been able to do so, but that may be on the verge of changing... Enter Facebook:

The police created a public "Event" on Facebook and as soon as it was published online, students, adults, and bystanders began to post pictures and videos - complete with tagging and comments. The police now have every right to now investigate and question any person who appears in the photos and picture because the photos are public domain... no search warrant needed.

Rolanda Bloom

10/12/2012 12:08:37 am

that was clever. my mom drives a minivan. i think that it was very good of the police to stop such nonsence.

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10/19/2012 12:04:57 am

Who is Rolanda?

Wenli Period 3

10/12/2012 03:10:59 am

This is so awesome! It's a great advantage for the police and will help them greatly.

Jonathan Provencal Period 4

10/12/2012 04:22:49 am

I think that the police were clever to investigate this way. Since Facebook has become so popular, everyone knows about things going on. The police will track them down.

Alexia Martins period 6

10/12/2012 05:44:57 am

I am not sure what the police did was right. The put on an event without stating that it was them and now are allowed to investigate. It is perfectly legal but they shouldn't have done it in that way. Now, the police can investigate as much. I don't agree with the fact that they can investigate everyone in the picture. I think it should just be the person who posted it. I would be angry if I were the school members because now they were tricked into being able to investigate. If I were the police, I would of got a warrant the right way so nobody would be angry. I believe the police shouldn't of used facebook for such a thing. Facebook is not for solving police investigations, it is for people to talk and it should stay that way.

Nathan Hoyer Period 4

10/12/2012 01:37:32 pm

I think this is awesome because police are manipulating facebook to stop a potentially dangerous event.

Mikaela period 1

10/13/2012 01:31:03 am

I think that what the police did was not fair. Because many people use facebook for different reasons. Not to use it to track down people. The members that were involved in this should be tracked not everybody. This is not fair.

Lisa Period 1

10/13/2012 10:33:02 am

That's great for the police to think of something like this. Finally some people use Facebook for good.

Sam Malm Period 1

10/13/2012 11:26:32 pm

Police using Facebook for good? It really is about time that it was used in a way like they did

Daniel Peladeau Period 6

10/13/2012 11:55:42 pm

I think what the police did was perfectly legal, they don't need to have a warrant if evidence is in plain sight. So if someone posts a picture online, it is fair game to be used in court. It is a public site so anything you post online can be seen by anyone around the world. So even if the police got in trouble for using the evidence, next time a concerned citizen could send them the picture that they found and they could use it as evidence. It would be sort of an eyewitness account of what had happened. I believe that the police did the right thing and now less fires will be started in the street when the team wins a football game.

Andrea Henninger period 5

10/14/2012 04:38:14 am

I think that this is a great idea because now the police will be able to stop things before it has happened. Also, whenever anyone puts anything on facebook it is considered public information, so I do not think that the police are doing anything wrong by this.

Nicole Morales Period 6

10/14/2012 07:00:47 am

That was pretty sneaky. People are always telling others to be careful on facebook and to make sure that they are careful with what they post, but these people thought they were posting to a public events page. Not to mention that the fires were part of the culture and celebration for that area that had not been changed yet. It just seems wrong that the police are able to investigate those people without a search warrant. They should not be able to do this because of abuse of the social networking for the police force or something like that. The fires aren't illegal, right? So.. they should just try to change it on the assumption that most people do it, not by interrigating people.

Christina Genuario Period 6

10/14/2012 07:03:17 am

I think that this Facebook investigation is a good and clever idea. Even if some students think that it's not fair, the police have every right to. It's perfectly legal, and they should be able to do this if they need to end the fires. Hopefully this should end it once and for all.

Oanh Nguyen period 5

10/14/2012 09:15:20 am

I think that this is a good idea because they're trying to stop something that is dangerous to the public. It is perfectly legal even though many students thinks it is unfair

Leah Fitz-Simon Period 6

10/14/2012 09:41:20 am

I think that it was wrong for the police to create this Facebook event without telling the public that it was them. Now, with seeing all of this footage and pictures, they will be able to ask any and all people in these videos and pictures. The police could knock on someones door, asking questions for something that that person may have not known was on Facebook in the first place. I think that it was wrong for the police to do this, even if it is legal.

Hunter Bazarnick Period 1

10/14/2012 09:52:15 am

I think that the police are finding new ways to cope with the generations. It is the age of information, and it is important that the police use things like Facebook to their advantage to stop crimes.

Jessica Period 1

10/14/2012 12:31:46 pm

That is a good idea and it will allow the police to keep track of things and be able to stop the things people are doing and they are able to find out about these things.

Molly per. 1

10/14/2012 12:48:23 pm

I think this is a great way for the police to investigate illegal things hue just going to your profile. The police are uses new ways that are fitting into our generation and copeing with our uses of technology. But to me, if they really wanted to get evidence not to go on Facebook, not many go on anymore.

This is a great idea. Obviously the police have been trying to stop these celebrations for a while, and by using Facebook they have an effective way to combat the practices.

Cara period 3

10/15/2012 07:45:33 am

Life in the south is so different than up here. They eat, sleep, and breathe football. In the northeast, we do not celebrate football as intensely as they do. Setting the streets with fire is a little ridiculous and goes above and beyond the line. I am glad that they are happy about the win though.

Samantha p1

10/15/2012 09:06:09 am

I think the police were smart to use Facebook. Doing this can prevent serious danger.

Mitchell Period 4

10/15/2012 11:01:19 am

Those police are geniuses. They found an easy, simple way to stop the problem they have been having for a long time. Things like facebook are like new tools, making it easier for police catch people breaking the law.

Ethan Miller Period 6

10/15/2012 08:48:40 pm

I can tell there are a lot of different viewpoints here, and no one is either wrong or right, so I guess I'll be on the biased side. I think that what the police did was CLEVER in, yes trying to stop this, but that doesn't have to be the only way. Why not pass a law? Hold town meetings? Having said that, I will say that this act was no more than an invasion of privacy on the internet. I would not want that happening to me.

Marrina Yeomans Period 3

10/16/2012 12:52:21 am

Police are starting to enhanced their ways on technology. Which has some posititve and Negative effect. Starting Small fires, Foolish. What has our generation come to? But i appluase the police for creating such a simple way to stop an issue.

Nicolle P.3

10/16/2012 03:30:25 am

it's a smart move made on behalf of police. But, if the fires haven't been a safety hazard or an out of control thing, I think the students are just having fun. Granted they could find a more safe way to celebrate but if they aren't harming anyone then it's not that bad. However, using Faceook to question people is smart. I bet our generation will be regretting every last Facebook post once facebook becomes a weapon against the youth... then again, it already has.

Christian Gamez Period 5

10/16/2012 07:13:33 am

First of all i think that the whole idea of starting small fires in the middle of streets is ridiculous seeing how dangerous it could get. The police did great at finding out information without being detected using Facebook. I believe that it was necessary to take this action.

Madeline Choquette p.1

10/16/2012 09:12:04 am

I think this was clever for the police to do this, espically because everyone uses facebook.

Melissa Abels Period 5

10/16/2012 12:47:32 pm

Wow, that was clever of the police! I think that it is a good warning to people not to post things that they could get in trouble for. I have heard other stories like this where people get in trouble for putting things up that they don't want officials to know. People need to realize the danger in putting things online that could get them in trouble.

Yannick Period 3

10/17/2012 07:28:32 am

I think it is very good to stop the riots. Because if it degenerate it can be very dangerous.
The idea with Facebook was very clever of the police. But if the police didn't betray the clever idea then the police can use the idea again.

Nathan Morton Period 4

10/17/2012 09:30:39 am

I think its a reallyy good idea, they are using a website everybody uses to find out things that are happening that are against the law.

talaiha per4

10/17/2012 10:47:07 pm

I dont think the school should start fires in the street there are many ways they can celabrate. And the police do have a right to say something because who will be the ones to put out the fires if it gets out of hand?

Matt Carney Pr.4

10/18/2012 06:03:31 am

I like how the police are doing this. Since Facebook has become so popular and since that most kids and adults have facebook now it could really help. They could find people who start fires and the facebook community might know some people who starts the fires.

Ethan Schneider period 1

10/18/2012 09:59:29 am

Wow that is a great and safe idea that the police officers made. People could get really hurt themselves and other people starting fires, even if its tradition. Hopefully they can stop it.

Claudia Period 6

10/19/2012 12:49:48 am

Very clever police, very clever. They used the fact that a lot of people love to overshare on the internet (especially Facebook) to their advantage. It's not the police department's fault that those people were careless enough to fall for it...

Makenzie Driscoll Period 4

10/19/2012 07:06:13 am

I think that making the event was very sneaky of the west virginia police. people should really be much more carefull about what they put on social networking sites because once its up it can never be taken down...but who just goes out one day and says hey we won the football game lets go start a fire in the middle of the street? some people really are crazy these days!

Arden period 6

10/20/2012 12:52:13 am

This was really sneaky and stealthy. But not so much for those posting pictures, videos, etc. It's kind of funny that people could be so dumb as to post things that the police can now easily track down. I think this action could really benefit the West Virginia community...but not those posting stuff.

Sam Eleuterio

10/23/2012 12:17:59 am

Thats really clever of the police. It is also really stupid of the people who posted pictures. If the community is activly trying to stop these fires why would you post pictures of yourself starting the fires? People really need to start to think before they post things online.

Ryan Grundy period 4

10/24/2012 09:51:01 am

i think this is just stupid i agree with the police descion to do this but who would just lite a fire because there team one who sits on the couch and when the game ends just goes and lites his driveway on fire its just plain stupid

Mackenzie Egan Period 6

10/29/2012 10:14:59 am

In my opinion, it was stupid of the people to post pictures and start fires after a victory. But it's funny because the people that wanna stop these fires start them themselves. It's very clever what the police did, it will keep the people safe and out of trouble.

Julia F Period 6

11/1/2012 09:36:09 am

I think that this was a smart idea for the police to do because they can get all the evidence that they need. On the other hand it wasn't to smart of the other people to post pictures in the event because now they can possibly get charged and questioned about the fires.

Brian per 4

11/3/2012 07:55:23 pm

The police weere pretty smart using the idea of facebook in order to stop the celebrations. I dont think i ever woul dhave though of that

Emily pd. 3

11/4/2012 09:22:57 am

Why shouldn't they be able to celebrate a victory with a fire? I know that I'm also excited after winning a game. I think that what the police officers did was very sneaky because they probably could have shut down the fires differently. By them doing this though, it probably helped to keep fires from happening faster. The fires better have been a threat to the students if creating a facebook account was necessary.

Olivia period 5

11/7/2012 08:09:54 am

I think that using Facebook as a way to help them is a very good idea for the police. People post crazy things on Facebook, and it could be helpful for the police to get a look into people's lives. Why shouldn't the police be able to see things you post if you let all of your 700+ friends see it? I do, however, think that if the fires are not harming anyone, they should be able to continue as long as they are controlled. It is a big part of their culture, and should only be changed is necessary.

Alex Bowden Period 6

11/8/2012 07:19:17 am

The police killed two birds with one stone. First they stopped the chaos and second they taught facebook safety. The students had no right to act like this. The police did.

tyler per 4

11/8/2012 12:01:33 pm

The police had a good idea of doing that and it was smart.of them to get themselves to not need a searchwarrant

jahshaun jenkins period 3

11/8/2012 01:57:20 pm

i believe that this is a great way for the police to catch and identify some of the many people that use illicit drugs. if people who have hundreds of friends on facebook want to show everyone what they do that is so bad and wrong, why cant the police see? right?